Sunday, October 26, 2014

The book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, is a long term prophecy concerning the final end of the Christian Church before the Second Coming, and the establishment of a New Church. The book is highly symbolic, and subject to a lot of commentaries, but very few have been able to interpret it due to the amount of symbolism involved. When I first encountered Emanuel Swedenborg, one of the first works I examined was Apocalypse Revealed and Apocalypse Explained - all in all, about nine volumes of works explaining in detail the Apocalypse. It is by far the most comprehensive interpretation of the book of Revelation I have ever seen. Swedenborg claimed that for over a period of 27 years his vision was opened to explore heaven and hell, to the end that the internal spiritual sense of scripture could be explained. And one of the strongest evidences that indeed he was receiving visions from a higher source is his writings where he explains the symbolism of scripture, showing how and why it is Divinely Inspired.

The Apocalypse begins with the Apostle John in exile on the isle of Patmos, when his vision is opened to be shown the future of the Christian Church in its very last state. Thus it is fitting that the book should be finally revealed in these times by Emanuel Swedenborg whose vision was opened to explain the symbolism of this work. Similar to John, he was also on an island in the west - England - and he was forced to go there as he could freely publish his works and not be subject to the religious censors in Sweden. In a sense, like John, Swedenborg has been exiled and rejected by the Christian Churches, for in the revelations explained many errors that have crept into the Christian church and corrupted it. What errors? We have this passage:

Blessed is he who reads, and they who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. (Rev. 1:3)

Or some translations states, "for the time is near." This does not refer to time, but the state when the Christians church is near its end:

"For the time is at hand, signifies that the state of the church is such that it can no longer continue to have conjunction with the Lord. There are two essentials by which conjunction with the Lord is effected, and hence salvation, — the acknowledgment of one God, and repentance of life. But at this day, instead of the acknowledgment of one God, there is acknowledgment of three; and instead of repentance of life, there is repentance of the mouth only that one is a sinner; and by these two there is no conjunction: therefore, unless a new church rises up, which acknowledges these two essentials, and lives them, no one can be saved. On account of this peril, the time has been shortened by the Lord, according to His words in Matthew: Then shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor shall be; yea, except those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved (xxiv. 21, 22)." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 9)

There is thus no "date" for an "end of the world" - the time is at hand when one recognizes the church is corrupt. Tritheism pervades the belief system detracting worship from Jesus (see The False Belief of a Trinity of three beings: TRITHEISM), and a theology of "vicarious atonement" detracts from repentance (see Did Jesus Die to Appease an Angry God? Is Vicarious Atonement True or False?). Although this is a central tenet of both Catholic and Protestant churches, it is not so for the Orthodox. For these churches religion is a matter of belief only, but not in one's life. One God as one person in Jesus Christ, and salvation through repentance are the two essentials of the New Church is, which are symbolized by the two witnesses of Revelation 11 which torment those of the earth. These witnesses cause torment, for many of the older churches do not want to acknowledge these two truths and admit that their belief system is wrong, This is described in the blog post The Identity of the Two Witnesses of Revelation.

The Apocalypse begins with seven letters dictated by Jesus Christ to seven churches in Asia, or modern day Turkey. Many have recognized that these letters are symbolic, written to the Christian churches of all ages. While many have attempted to find historical periods within the age of the Christian church to which each church corresponds, this is getting too literal. In the spiritual sense, the number seven means "all" or what is complete, thus these are letters written to all churches. And by "church" here is anyone who does good by the spiritual truth that they acknowledge. They do not represent historical periods, but seven different types of people within the church in its last days. They are letters to all of Christianity to prepare them for the revelation to come. When one uncovers the spiritual sense of these letters, one can easily see in which spiritual category one belongs, and what should be done to correct one's errors.

The spiritual meaning of each church are as follows:

EPHESUS: those who are in spiritual knowledge only, but not in the goods of life.SMYRNA: those who live a good life, but are in falsity as to doctrine.PERGAMOS: those who are self-righteous from the merit of their own works.THYATIRA: those who teach faith separate from charity, and those who have charity from faith.SARDIS: those who are in external worship only, following the rituals, but with no true inner spirituality or understanding.PHILADELPHIA: those who are in truth from good, where love is primary. To such as these will be revealed the true doctrines of the New Church.LAODICEA: those who sometimes follow the Word, and sometimes follow their own system of thought which they invented. Falsehood mixed in with that of truth, thus profaning what is holy.

So looking at the above, they refer to seven spiritual states, but this can only be known from examining the spiritual sense of the Apocalypse. In some cases they refer to a specific sect of the Church, but most can take a look at these states of spirituality and may have passed through one or more of these states at different stages of one's life. For each spiritual state, if there is a fault a correction is offered to fix the fault. One can only spiritually develop if one recognizes one's fault, acknowledges it, and changes one's behavior.

EPHESUS: THOSE WHO ARE IN KNOWLEDGE ONLY

House of the virgin Mary in Ephesus, foreseen in the visions of Catherine Anne Emmerich

That Ephesus represents those who are spiritual knowledge only, who only seek enlightenment. That this is so, is Jesus describes himself as the one who holds seven stars in his hand, and walks among the seven candlesticks - this means He is the Divine source of all spiritual knowledge. In the symbolism of scripture, a "sun" represents love, the "moon" represents the light of faith, but "stars" represent knowledge. In the spiritual realm, God's light can appear as a star, or large like a moon, or in all its glory as a sun, depending on one's spiritual state. The emphasis is on the truth of doctrine, and distinguishing between truth and falsehood, thus they are said to have examined so-called apostles and found them to be liars. Their fault is clear:

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. (Rev. 2:4-5)

What this means is that spiritual knowledge, without practicing it in a life of service or charity, will die out. Only when knowledge when applied to life is it living, otherwise it will dissipated and forgotten.

Many commentaries on Revelation give the proper spiritual interpretion of the church of Ephesus correctly, but this is not true for the following churches.

SMYRNA: THOSE WHO ARE IN GOOD, BUT IN FALSE BELIEFS

The church of Smyrna represents a completely opposite state from that of Ephesus. Essentially good people, but misguided by false beliefs. This would also include those born into false religions, or drawn into them from a disenchantment from established religions. That this is a state where they are in falsity of doctrine, is known from the meaning of the words "tribulation" or "affliction" - for in the spiritual sense, that is to be in falsity as to doctrine, and in a state where one does not know what is true or false. Thus in this state one is afflicted by those who say they are Jews, but are not, but commit blasphemy - showing they think they belong in a true church (symbolized by Jews), but they are not, thus committing blasphemy against what is holy or true. Thus they will suffer being thrown in "prison" - for a spiritual prison means to be bound for a period of time in false beliefs. When one is born into a religion, and one begins to recognize it is false, is it a very stressful time for that person until they come to realize what is true.

PERGAMOS: THOSE WHO ARE IN SELF-MERITORIOUS WORKS

This spiritual state is not so apparent from the sense of the letter, but it can be seen from the symbolism. This concerns those who think they are better or superior than others because of the good they do: it concerns those who are self-righteous. Mentioned among this church are those who hold onto the "doctrine of the Nicolaitans" - and this reference has puzzled commentators for centuries. From revelation, it was given to Swedenborg to know that the ancient Nicolaitans were those who placed self-merit in works - thus they were hated by those of Ephesus, who emphasized knowledge and faith more than good works. Swedenborg stated that most in the Christian churches fell either into this category or in the spiritual state of Sardis, of which later. But that this represents those who are in self-meritorious works, is known only from the spiritual sense from scripture:

"That thou hast there them who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit whoredom, signifies that among them are those who do hypocritical works, by which the worship of God in the church is defiled and adulterated. That by these words are meant those who do works by which worship is defiled and adulterated, is manifest from the historicals of the Word relating to Balaam and Balak the king of Moab. For Balaam was a hypocrite and a diviner; for he spoke well of the sons of Israel from Jehovah, and yet in heart cherished the desire to destroy them, and did also destroy some by the counsel given to Balak; from which it is manifest that his works were hypocritical." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 114)

When one realizes that good in itself is spiritual, and has a Divine origin, and that goods works are a result of love and good intent, then works cease to be self-meritorious and one reaches a new spiritual life. This is represented symbolically by the "hidden manna" - the bread of heaven. For bread and food in scripture symbolize love, and in loving others and being in service one's heart becomes one in conjunction with heaven. One must realize this truth in order to achieve this state, thus Jesus is said to be the one with the sharp two-edged sword, for sword signifies the Divine truth. Those who realize this truth, that good is not self-meritorious, but are done out of love, are given a "white stone":

"And I will give him a white stone, signifies truths favoring and united to good. A white stone signifies this, because in judgments the votes were collected by stones, and by white ones those which were affirmative. It is affirmative truths that are signified because white is predicated of truths (n. 167, 379). Hence by a white stone are signified truths favoring good. They are also united to the good, because the good draws them, and unites them to itself. For all good loves truth, and conjoins to itself such as accords with itself, especially the good of heavenly love: this so unites truth to itself, that they make altogether one." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 121)

THYATIRA: THOSE WHO ARE IN CHARITY FROM FAITH, OR IN FAITH SEPARATE FROM CHARITY

From the symbolism contained in the letter to the church of Thyatira, it becomes apparent in Apocalypse Revealed that this concerns mainly the Protestant or Reformed churches, who put emphasis on faith, among whom there are many who separate faith from charity. That this is so is known from the following passage:

I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first (Rev. 2:19)

In other words, faith and patience are prioritized above works, love and service. It thus refers to the Protestant faith. Among the Protestants, there are those who separate faith from charity turn themselves against repentance against the lusts of the will, which is symbolized by the idol of Baal. As the Word itself is adulterated to support faith alone, it is said that they will be cast into a bed of adultery (see The Fundamental Error of the Protestant Faith). The end result of this, for those who make this their primary doctrine, is that their church will become infested by falsities - thus the "sons are killed by death," where sons signify truths, which are extinguished by falsities. Thus the Protestant churches have a tendency to split into multiple sects. That faith separate from charity is false, is shown where it is said everyone will be given "according to their works." Those who teach the doctrine and reason according to it, are those who "know the depths of Satan," where Satan signifies what is false (the word Devil is used to indicate what is evil). Those who turn against this doctrine are those who "keep the works unto the end" and are given "power over the nations" - where nations signify evils, and power is given to those who resist evil from truth in repentance.

SARDIS: THOSE WHO ARE IN EXTERNAL WORSHIP ONLY

Other than those who are in self-meritorious works (represented by Pergamos), the other large majority of people who are in the church are in external worship only, where they follow the rituals but are not in knowledges of the truth are in a life according to good. These are represented by the church of Sardis, and have a tendency to only follow teachings from authority without question. Thus they have a name that they are alive, but are dead - for on the outside they look religious, but inwardly they are dead as to spiritual life. They are told not to sleep, but be "watchful" and to not defile their clothes and walk in white - which means to be in a life according to the truths.

PHILADELPHIA: THOSE WHO ARE IN TRUTHS FROM LOVE

Philadelphia means "brotherly love," and this church represents those who are primarily in love towards God and others and from that are in truths. To those who are in this state, there is an "open door" before them, which means they are open to receiving truths from heaven. As these truths are revealed, those who are say the are Jews, but are of the "synagogue of Satan" - will come to bow down at their feet - which means those who were in falsities of doctrine from the former churches will recognize their error. For "Satan" in the spiritual sense means those who are in falsehoods and lies. This church are those who "have not denied [the Lord's] name" - that is, they acknowledge God as one person in Jesus. This is the "pillar in the temple of God" - for in the highest sense, the Lord's body is the temple of God, which in the New Church is acknowledged to be the Divine Human, otherwise known as the Son of God. It is said that these will be kept from the hour of temptation, for the falsities will be exposed in the former churches and those who will belong to those will be afflicted by their falsehoods. These will belong to the New Church which will follow the former Christian Churches, which is also known as the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven following the final judgment. For those who are primarily in love, there is no correction here needed.

He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens (Rev. 3:8)

LAODICEA: THOSE WHO MIX FALSEHOODS WITH TRUTH

The last church represents the general last and worst state, which is when falsehoods are intermixed with the truths of the church. The "beginning of the work of God" is the Word itself, from which truths should be derived, rather than one's own self intelligence. These are neither "cold or hot" - which means sometimes they confirm the Word, and sometimes deny, vacillating between the truth of scripture and their own framework that they invented. When falsehoods are mixed in with truth, that which is holy is profaned, thus the Lord speaks of them as "spewn from the mouth." These people think they know everything, are superior to others, and thus say they to themselves that they are "rich and increased in goods" - when in fact they are "miserable and poor" - lacking in knowledge, and "blind" in spiritual truth - although they have no idea in what poor situation they are in spiritually, due to their self pride. For these it is recommended that they should acquire "gold tried by fire" - which are the goods of love - and "white garments" - which are truths derived from scripture. As these have turned away from the truths of the Christian Church, the Lord says he stands outside the door knocking, waiting to be accepted into their heart.

THE SEVEN STATES OF THOSE WHO ARE IN LIGHT OF TRUTH

The seven candlesticks represent our physical life here on earth, and the seven stars represent the angels who guide us. Every person who follows truth in one form or another - no matter what religion - is represented here, for in the spiritual sense everything is abstracted from the particulars. One's spiritual state can also change at different stages in one's life. For we are all forms of good and truth, and we each receive it in a different and unique way. Understanding the principles of good and truth in one's own life can lead to greater understanding, and directing one's life towards a life of love and service towards others (see The Universal Philosophy of Good and Truth). When is open to self examination, and knowing and acknowledging one's shortcomings, one prepares oneself for greater revelations to come - and this is symbolically represented by the New Jerusalem descending from heaven, a New Church based on revelations direct from God. For it is this which is truly the Second Coming, but one has to prepare one self to receive it.

People who look up to the sky, expecting some visible sign from heaven, are going to be disappointed. But for those who open their spiritual eye, looking within, they will be very happy with what they find.

The meeting allowed valuable contact between North Korea's authoritarian leader and senior South Korean officials after a year that has seen a steady stream of insults between the divided neighbors and an unusual number of North Korean missile and rocket test firings.One analyst called it a 'golden opportunity' for South Korean President Park Geun-hye to test North Korea's willingness to improve shaky ties.

So what was the result of the talks so far? Apparently, North Korea mentioned that they did not like a certain lighted Christmas tree in South Korea near the neutral zone, so they had the South Korean government tear it down since it was deemed to be "religious propaganda":

South Korea has pulled down a “Christmas tree” on its border with the North after the totalitarian state threatened to bomb it as “religious propaganda”.Christian groups had previously decorated the 60ft tower, near the city of Gimpo, with lights and topped it with a cross during the festive season.But being only two miles from the border, it could be seen by North Koreans in nearby towns and was condemned as propaganda warfare.

Well maybe North Korea has a point. Because western media has engaged in propaganda warfare against North Korea. One example is the upcoming movie, The Interview, in which two reporters are hired to assassinate the North Korean dictator, or even worse, Kim Jong singing "I'm so ronery" in the awful movie Team America: World Police:

Movies, such as these, are designed as propaganda, with very low level humor to reach the masses. For North Korea, unfortunately, caught in the middle of this political situation there is very intense persecutions of Christians in North Korea, which happens to be the worst in the world. This is also due to the fact that all North Koreans are forced to bow down and worship the leader of North Korea as god. Here is a documentary concerning their situation, in which many witnesses identities have been hidden for their own protection:

North Korea literally has a policy of torturing and executing Christians.

EXTERNAL MORALITY VS. SPIRITUAL MORALITY

The human rights records for North Korea, like similar atheist regimes, is very low. Compare with the millions who died under Stalin in Russia, and the millions of Chinese who were starved under Mao Tse-Tung. Why are human rights standards so low for atheist regimes? This is due to the fact that true morality is not just civil. True morality has as its origin a spiritual Divine that flows into us. When we cut off that spiritual Divine, then the love of self and power prevails. This is because the origin of all good originates not from our selves, our own egos, but from the Divine, who is Good itself.

Without acknowledgment of the Divine, morality becomes external, or is done merely out of the fear from punishment or opinion of others:

"All who are in the knowledges of truth and good, but not, conformably to these, in the good of life, may live a moral life equally with those who are in knowledges and through these in the good of life; yet their moral life is not spiritual but natural, because in their life they do not live sincerely, justly, and well from religion; and those who do not live well from religion cannot be conjoined with heaven; for it is religion that makes a man spiritual and conjoins him with the angels, who are purely spiritual. To live well from religion is to think, to will, and to do because it has been so enjoined in the Word, and because the Lord has commanded it; but to live not from religion is to think, to will, and to do from a regard solely to civil and moral laws. Such as these, since they have regard only to these laws, conjoin themselves to this world alone, for which these laws are; but the former have regard to the Lord, and thereby conjoin themselves to Him. Gentiles are saved solely by this, that in their life they have regard to religion, thinking and saying that they ought to do thus and not otherwise, because to do otherwise would be contrary to the laws of their religion, thus contrary to the Divine; and when they thus think, and act accordingly, they are endowed with spiritual life, which with them is of such quality that afterwards, in the spiritual world, they receive truths more readily than those Christians who, in what they do, give no thought to the Word, or to the doctrine of the church, which is from the Word. Those who do not think from religion do not have conscience, because they are not spiritual; consequently, if their external bonds, which are fears respecting the law and reputation, should be loosened with them, they would rush into every wickedness; while on the other hand, if external bonds, which are fears respecting the law and reputation, should be taken away from those who think from religion, they would still act sincerely, justly, and well; for they fear God, and are kept in a life of obedience and charity out of heaven from the Lord, to whom they are conjoined." (Apocalypse Explained, n. 107.3-4)

Thus those who make morality one of external appearance, or done for sake of avoiding punishment, or separate from religious life, are very much deceived. True spirituality is one where an acknowledgment of the Divine is conjoined with one's morality, and from civil morality it becomes truly spiritual. Truly spiritual morality is one where sins are avoided not from fear of punishment, but rather they are contrary to what is Divine, and should be regarded as sin from the truth that one knows. For the Divine flows into each one of us through our conscience. An even higher spiritual morality is one where it is done out of love for what is good and useful for service. How we are judged depends on the intentions of our actions. On this path, one prepares oneself to become a recipient of the Divine influx, which flows into us as a spirit into our heart:

Both examples show a problem: how accepting a religion blindly can put one's mind in a box, a box that does not question the underlying principles. And to maintain one's "box" just any sort of self criticism is unacceptable. For most accept the truth on the basis of authority. One becomes mature when one learns to question religious teachings with one's own research, and determine if what one believes is true or not. I remember one time looking on the shelf, seeing a closed Bible. I thought, "I better open that book and find out if what the church is teaching is true or not." What I found is a core of truth, mixed in with many falsehoods. But it took a lot of searching.

The principle I took: most people who grow up in a religion never question it, and assume that the religion they grew up is the one source of truth. So when I thought about it, I thought, "And how do I know if the religion I have been told is true or not?" Honestly I did not. That Jesus was Divine, I knew to be true, but there were many other problems with the Christian Church. It had split into many factions. Most church goers go out of ritual. There were many unanswered questions.

And the more I asked questions, the more I got, why are you asking questions? Asking questions are certainly discouraged. And then I discovered something very hard: there were a certain number of essential false assumptions in the teachings. It is at this moment, I began to get an uncomfortable feeling. Something was not quite right. I could not put my finger on it. Sort of like this:

And so, that led to a period of searching. It is said, Seek and ye shall find. It is certainly true. For seeking, questioning one's assumptions, begins to open one's mind. But Jesus warned against false christs pointing here and there for the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God is within us:

And when one begins to search, one realizes one must keep an open mind. This means always questioning one's assumptions. When you do so, it leaves the mind open for discovery.

There is always, of course, the danger of emptying one's mind a bit too much:

God is not an abstract nothingness. And religion is not just one of meditation. There is of course an invisible God, a universal energy, beyond our conception. God is good itself, and truth itself. While most religions believe in an invisible God, fewer reach the conclusion of a personal God - one that has a human form, that can dwell in our heart.

And this is where all paths of truth lead - towards the center of the heart. For how true a religious truth is is dependent on how applicable it is to use, service, life, and ultimately love itself. But in order to reach love, one must first remove the roadblocks that we have created in our own self. When the roadblocks are removed, we are then ready to receive the Divine, and become His instrument.

Truth is universal. There are many ways to reach the end of the path, which is love:

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The primary principle of the New Church is that everything in the universe is related to two principles: Good and Truth. There is no truth without its corresponding good, and there is no good without its corresponding truth. Good and truth become one in usefulness and service, this is a spiritual marriage. Each person is an image of Good and Truth in that each person has a will and an intellect. More accurately, each person is an image of God inasmuch as one does good by the truth that one knows. It is a universal principle: we can see it in atoms composed of the nucleus (substance) and electrons (form), all the way up to the human form, composed of male and female. The male tends toward the intellectual, the female tends toward the volitional, and together they complement each other and make one by way of marriage.

Religions, which emphasize faith alone, or belief only, or eastern philosophies which speak of meditation or enlightenment only, are not complete. One must address one's will, not just what one knows. It requires self introspection, an ability to acknowledge one's faults. Otherwise one's religion or philosophy is hypocritical. For truth without good, or truth divorced from good, becomes nothing:

Whether or not an act is good or evil, is dependent upon one's intent. One's intent or purpose is the will, the means by which one does one's will is the thought, the two become one in the outward act. This is also known as end, cause and effect. While science acknowledges cause and effect, it does not acknowledge intent or purpose, or end. The philosophy of Utilitarianism fails in that it does not acknowledge the intention of the act in valuing usefulness. One should not be deceived by external appearances, or seek to deceive others by external appearance. All outward actions are judged by intent: this is not only true in a court of law, it is also true in the afterlife:

"Angels do not attend to any other than internal things, that is, to ends, or to intentions and purposes, and to thoughts therefrom." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 3489)

"All that evil which springs or flows forth from interior evil — that is from the intention or end of evil... — is contrary to Divine order; but that which does not spring or flow forth from interior evil, that is, from the intention or end of evil, though it sometimes appears like evil, still is not, if the end is not evil, since the end qualifies every act. For man's life is in his end, since what he loves and thence thinks, he has for his end; and the life of his soul is nothing else." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4839)

"It is to be known that the end is what determines the character of all the deeds of a man. If his end or intention is to do good for the sake of reputation, or to procure honors or gain, then the good which he does is not good, because it is done for the sake of himself, and thus also from himself. But if his end is to do good for the sake of a fellow citizen, or of his country, or of the church, thus for the sake of the neighbor, then the good which a man does is good, for it is done for the sake of good itself, which in a general sense is the real neighbor... and thus also it is done for the sake of the Lord, for such good is not from man, but from the Lord, and what is from the Lord is the Lord's. It is this good which is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew: Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did unto Me (xxv. 40)." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9210)

I mention intent, as many have the habit of putting up a false external appearance. But appearances count for nothing in the other life. Intentions are important. It is also important to note, that good deeds for the sake of one's own self honor, or for self gain, are not good. If the intention however is to fulfill a good use, without regard to self, then the act is regarded as good.

CATEGORIES OF GOOD AND TRUTH, AND THEIR OPPOSITES

This insight, that everything has relation to good and truth, pervades all of the revelations given to Emanuel Swedenborg in the 18th century. In one of his earlier works, The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, he begins with this principle that everything that exists is related to good and truth. From this simple principle, all doctrines of the New Church can be derived, and it is easy to apply them to one's life. For example:

"There are four kinds of men —
(a) those who are in falsities from evil, and those who are in falsities not from evil;
(b) those who are in truths without good;
(c) those who are in truths, and by them look and tend to good;
(d) those who are in truths from good. Each of these kinds will be spoken of in particular." (Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, n. 20)

Whereas people put on the same external appearance, internally each person is different, according to how their personality and life corresponds to good and truth. So lets start with category (A) above.:

"...there are two kinds of falsity, namely, the falsity which is from evil, and the falsity which produces evil. The falsity which is from evil is all that a man thinks when he is in evil, namely, all that favors his evil; as for example, when he is in adultery, what he then thinks about adultery, that it is allowable, that it is becoming, that it is the enjoyment of life, that the procreation of offspring is thereby promoted, and the like. All these thoughts are falsities from evil.
"But the falsity which produces evil is when a man takes up some principle from his religion, and believes therefrom that it is good and holy, when yet it is in itself evil. For example, he who believes from his religion that there is some man who can save, and therefore worships and adores him, does evil from that falsity; and so it is to act from any other religion which in itself is false." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 2243)

See the distinction? The falsities produced from evil are the justifications people make to favor the sinful action they commit. Someone who commits a wrong and lies about it to cover it up. False gossip to put someone down in favor of your self. However there is falsity which produces evil: this occurs when people accept a falsehood as truth, and begin to act upon that falsehood. Examples of this are cult brainwashing, media propaganda, false religions, and false advertising. These are falsehoods that seek to produce some sort of evil. Thus the propaganda from media exerts a strong influence on what a society accepts as good or evil.

So what about category (B): those who are in truths but without any good. These are those who know the truth but do not do them. People who say they are religious but do not apply it to their lives. Those who think one just has to believe in order to achieve salvation. People who think they are better than others because they are intelligent. This category of people is different: since the truth is not conjoined with any good, the truths that they know tend to become dissipated and fall by the wayside, as they are not applied to life. Truth is only living from one's affection for what is good. However, one can take this and understand one's own spiritual progression, which occurs in 4 stages (see Heavenly Arcana, 3603.3):

1. One learns the truth, but is content only with applying it to others. Truth at this point is just knowledge contained in the memory. This represents category (B), above.
2. One investigates the truth on one's own, instead of accepting it on authority. This again represents category (B).
3. In the third stage, one now thinks about how the truth that one knows can be applied to use, that is, to one's life, and starts doing from what one knows. This is category (C), above.
4. In the fourth stage and final stage, there is an inversion of truth and good: whereas good was secondary, good now becomes primary. From the good that one does in one's life, one knows what is true - this is category (D), above. The best word to describe this stage is "wisdom," which is different from knowledge (category B) or intelligence (category C).

Most people are at the first stage, including those who consider themselves religious. Very few reach the fourth stage. The process of spiritual progression includes a period of temptation, for if one accepted a falsehood as truth and lives by it, it can take time to remove that falsehood, and false teaching can hold someone back from progressing further. All our actions are guided by our thoughts, and thoughts will fall into things that are true, or things that are false. Action and thought, again, are a manifestation of good and truth, which act as one.

APPLICATION TOWARDS ALL RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

This is a universal philosophy, and once one understands these simple principles of good and truth, one can use it and apply it to any religion, theology, philosophy, school of thought, or way of life. It becomes easier to recognize one's own spiritual maturity in life, and it is easy to assess different systems of thought. It is universal. It is simple. It is so simple, yet insight after insight can be gathered from it. I have only scratched the surface of this teaching.

So the question one may ask, where is God in any of this teaching? That is the beauty of it: GOD is what is GOOD, God is what is TRUTH. "Good" and "truth" are not just abstractions: they are God himself, which flows into every human being through our conscience and our thoughts. These principles of good and truth pervade all that lives, for God is life itself. These simple principles can be applied to everything that you know about life. Emanuel Swedenborg applied it in such a way that he could open up the hidden spiritual sense of scripture: for everything in scripture is about nothing but these principles of good and truth, and there are distinct Hebrew words used for each.

And what about Judaism and Christianity? In the Old Testament, the Divine Good is referenced as Jehovah (Lord), and the Divine Truth is reference as Elohim (God). In the New Testament, the Divine Good is referenced as the "Father" and the Divine Truth is referenced as the "Son." Those who believe they are two persons are very much in error: they are the two principles that pervade the universe, for it originates from the one who is the source of all good and truth. They are not just abstract concepts, nor are they mere aspects of a personality: they are God himself, and we are only in good and truth inasmuch as we receive Him.

Inasmuch as one is in good and truth, so far one can consider oneself to be truly human, and together all of humanity becomes part of the one Divine God Man:

Thursday, October 2, 2014

The year was 1920. A young teenager, Albert Coe, was paddling up a river by canoe with a friend in the wilderness of Canada. At one point Albert decided to go exploring an area of wilderness while his friend was elsewhere, when he heard a cry for help. A young man had fallen into a rocky cleft, pinned and unable to move. Albert used a log and rope to lift him out, and tended to his wounds. He was badly injured and could not walk on his own. Albert noticed that he was wearing a strange silver grey suit, and there was a control panel under his chest. He had been fishing, but when he asked how he got there, the man said he had arrived there by plane, even though there was no runway. He attempted to head back to the plane on his own, but almost stumbled, and Albert insisted that he at least assist him to reach his plane. He finally agreed, as long as he promised to keep their encounter secret and not tell their friend. They headed further into the wilderness. They came before a clearing, and right in front of them was the stranger's "plane" - a silver flying saucer. At this point Albert was a bit shocked, but this other man had lost a lot of blood and was losing consciousness. He told him to swear to secrecy, but all would be explained later. He helped him in, stepped back, and saw the saucer take off.

And so began a very strange friendship with a man who called himself "Xretsim" - which backwards spelled "Mister X." They would meet and go on fishing and camping trips, or at pre-arranged rendezvous points, and when they could not meet this "Mister X" would send letters as long as he promised to destroy them after he read it. Finally, in 1965, they permitted him to reveal the contacts and he privately published a book of a few hundred copies which he sold at speaking engagements. In the late seventies UFO researcher Wendelle Stevens got in touch with Albert Coe, and republished the work under the title, UFO Contact from Planet Norca.

As is the case with most "contactees," Albert Coe was met with skepticism and ridicule:

"Of course, in some instances, I have been classified as a nut and in the opinion of one commentator, under the influence of a con man for forty-seven years. An eminent scientist considered the book as scientific mumbo-jumbo, designed to confuse; but their memories appear to be very short, as they forget that a few years ago they would have been categorized in the realm of the unbalanced and perhaps their findings condemned as works of the devil." (p. 204)

If true, the case is highly unusual, occurring long before the UFO contactee movement of the 1950s in which flying saucers were regularly in the news, especially after the flyby of UFOs by the White House in 1952. Jet fighters were launched and they could not even approach them. In 1920 no one had ever seen a flying saucer. So it is a hoax? A man misled by a mysterious Mister X? Is it all just "scientific mumbo-jumbo"?

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE ON TAU CETI

In 1967, Albert Coe had absolutely no shred of proof for his story. But it is now 2014. I picked up the book for some light entertainment, but as I read it certain statements began to jump out. When I finished it, my question was not, is this true or not, but rather, how come no one has noticed this? So first, lets cover some verifiable scientific facts, which were not known in 1967.

Mister X (or "Zret," as Albert called him) claimed that he came from the planet Venus, but originally, many thousands of years ago, they had emigrated there from their dying planet Norca, which orbited the star Tau Ceti. So we shall begin there:

"After supper we stretched out in front of the campfire and Zret said, "Tonight I am going to take you on an imaginary journey in a `Norca Ship' that will carry us 20,000 years back in time and far into the great void of space, some seventy million, million miles from our solar system to a planet, once endearing called `Norca', that orbits the star you know as Tau Ceti and in a related story, from the archives of our history, we will relive an incredible saga of a very ancient and highly advanced race of beings, my ancestors, who dwelled on this planet." (p. 114-115)

This was said in 1920, and the book was published in 1967. So how far is Tau Ceti from our solar system? Actually, throughout the years there have been a variety of estimates, as follows (from Wikipedia):

Non-trigonometric distance estimates are marked in italic. The best estimate is marked in bold.

So the best estimate for the distance between our solar system is 11.905 light years. So let's do the math. One light year is 5,878,639,984,454 miles, thus 11.905 light years is:

69,985,209,014,922 miles

And this, of course, is almost exactly seventy million, million miles. But in 1970, the estimate was 11.77 light years, which is 69,191,592,617,024 miles. In 1991 the estimate got worse, 11.4 light years, which is 67,016,495,822,776 miles. I am not even sure what the estimate was in 1967, much less in 1920.

Tau Ceti is similar to our Sun, but only 78% of our Sun's mass. From spectral analysis, we also now know that Tau Ceti is metal deficient. This indicates that Tau Ceti is much older than our Sun, so perhaps there was a greater chance for a civilization to evolve to an advanced state there.

Zret described a huge spacecraft that had approached the solar system of Tau Ceti in their ancient history, and provides several details concerning the solar system:

"The disc straight ahead, near the top of the frame, that looks in size like a shiny half dollar, is the seventh or outer planet Ahreeca whose orbital Aphelion is eight hundred twenty-nine million miles and the mean distance of the other six planets graduating down to thirty-seven million miles for Ne-Neeea, the smaller and closest planet to the sun." (p. 155)

"Norca's mean orbit is eighty-five million miles from the sun and is about seven-eights the size of Earth or seven thousand miles in diameter." (p. 156)

"If you watch very closely you will occasionally see four flickers of light, beyond but following its curvature. These are the four moons of Norca, the larger and outer one, a natural moon, similar to your moon and the other three are mechanical bodies, products of man’s brain, that were designed to curtail evaporation by retarding the fast moving molecules that steal away as atmospheric gas; to stimulate moisture and temper the sharp differential of night time cold and heat of the day that become part of a dying planet’s physics, under duress of thinning atmosphere and escape of infra red light." (p. 157)

Returning to the story of Zret, or "Mister X," the closest and smallest planet has an average distance of 37,000,000 miles from Tau Ceti, which is 0.398 AU. This is almost within range of the estimate for Tau Ceti d, which has an average orbit of 0.374 ± 0.02 AU. This would indicate that planets Tau Ceti b and Tau Ceti c are false positives.

What is of interest with this observation are the planets Tau Ceti e and Tau Ceti f. Both are in the habitable zone (from Wikipedia):

Tau Ceti e, appears to orbit about half as far from Tau Ceti as the Earth does from the Sun. With Tau Ceti's luminosity of 52% that of the Sun and a distance from the star of 0.552 AU, the planet would receive 1.71 times as much stellar radiation as Earth does, slightly less than Venus with 1.91 times Earth's. Nevertheless, some research places it within the star's habitable zone. Planetary Habitability Laboratory has calculated that Tau Ceti f, which would receive 28.5% as much starlight as Earth, compared to Mars with 43%, would be narrowly within the habitable zone of the star as well.

So which planet is potentially the planet Norca as described by Mister X? Norca's mean orbit is said to be 85,000,000 miles or 0.91 AU. This is in between Tau Ceti e and Tau Ceti f. So which is it? I think it is Tau Ceti f. At the edge of habitability zone, Tau Ceti f would tend to have a colder temperature that earth. And indeed this fits Mister X's description of the surface of the planet Norca, as seen from an approaching space craft, beginning from its North Pole:

"The glare of the ice is quite intense but the horizontal curvature is very distinct and in proceeding southward, our altitude and speed will gradually decrease, as objects start to take form, The dark mounds and spears are mountains jutting through glacial fields, the yellowish tinge is mist, rising from melting ice sheets, for the planet is still basking under the influence of a warming trend in this glaciation era. Directly below us now are edges of a receding frozen world and you can see great cascades of pale greenish yellow water tumbling down its sides and gushing from beneath ice field and glacier. The interspersed black rolling waves are storm clouds, pouring out their contingent, in torrential rain squalls; streams, lakes and shallow inland seas are the main pattern of the landscape, but the green of vegetation is becoming evident and then blends into the darker green of the forests. This belt is not too extensive and within four hundred miles we will pass over its ragged border line, that appears as short fingers and peninsulars of fertile soil, with its plant life, protruding into the yellow brown dust, sand and rock of a desolate area that covers the entire equatorial zone, for it has long ago dehydrated." (p. 157)

According to the finding from 2012, here are their relative sizes compared to earth:

According to the finding, Tau Ceti f is too big. However it was said four moons orbit Norca, and if this is true, that could possibly give a larger mass reading for Tau Ceti f. So it is possible that Tau Ceti f is smaller, seven-eighths the size of earth. My educated guess: Tau Ceti f is the planet Norca.

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE ON MARS

Long ago the planet Norca was increasingly becoming uninhabitable, and their scientists did a survey of nearest stars and decided to evacuate what remained of the population on a destination towards Earth, a water bearing world. This expedition, carefully planned over many years, ended with disastrous results. Due to a miscalculation, at the end of their voyage many ships were destroyed, caught in the gravitational pull towards the Sun or Jupiter. One however managed to survive and crash landed on Mars. The description of Mars is rather detailed and surprising:

"...there was water, not overly abundant, with higher atmospheric pressure both to the 'North' and the 'South,' with some plant and small animal life, predominated by the rodent and reptile families, a few specie of fish and millions of insects, but no trace of humanoid form. There were also shallow ice caps at either pole that represented a dormant reservoir to be tapped through engineering technique. The planet did not appear in an exact category of embracing extinction, but rather in the essence of `marking time' in an arrest from natural deterioration. The span duration that it would remain in this state, could not be immediately determined, but at best, it promised no paradise."" (p. 171)

So, there was - and perhaps is - life on Mars. The first successful exploration of Mars took place in July 1965 when Mariner 4 flew by Mars, close to the time when the book was published. It confirmed a desolate landscape at the time, surprising many. However confirmation of water on Mars, plus its polar ice caps, has only recently been confirmed.

At the time of the contact with Albert Coe, Zret said that some of his people were still on Mars, in one or more underground bases. In 1989 the Russian probe Phobos 2 had taken infrared pictures of an underground city on Mars, as well as caught pictures of a large cylindrical UFO in the vicinity of the moon Phobos before it mysteriously malfunctioned. See The Phobos Incident. NASA, in reality, has more on its mind than just drilling rocks and taking soil samples on Mars. Perhaps more important, the Curiosity mission showed how to deliver large payloads to Mars. The Mars One program may be much further ahead in its program of colonization than we think. There have been whistle blowers that have come forward to that effect.

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE ON VENUS

When Albert Coe met this mysterious Mister X, he said he came from Venus:

"Our home is quite simple to explain and is actually two worlds, one the planet Mars, nearing the end of an evolutionary life and the other planet Venus, younger in evolutionary processes than Earth, but its higher regions are not too drastically different than the environment here. The long and intricate details will have to await future discussion." (p. 68)

We now know that Venus is extremely hot, and cannot support life on its surface. So again, as with Mars, the dwelling is probably underground. But do the "higher regions" of Venus have an earth-like environment? Probes which measured the atmosphere and surface of Venus began in 1970 after the book was published. What we now know is that the upper atmosphere of Venus is indeed earth-like and may support life. From Will We Build Colonies That Float Over Venus:

This idea dates back to the Russians in the 1970s. The surface of Venus is far too hot, and the atmosphere too dense, for Earth life. However, our air is a lifting gas on Venus with about half the lifting power of helium on Eath. A habitat filled with normal air will float high in the dense Venus atmosphere, The atmospheric pressure there is the same as Earth sea level (1 bar). Temperatures are perfect for Earth life too, just over 0°C.
Also, just as weather balloons naturally rise to their operating level high in our atmosphere - and don't need to be engineered to hold in high pressures, so it works in the same way for our habitats on Venus. They float at a level where the pressure is equal inside and out, and can be of light construction. It is arguably the most hospitable region for humanity in our solar system, outside of Earth itself.

Nothing was known of the upper atmosphere of Venus when the book was published. At the beginning of the book there is a quote from a newspaper article in the late 70s where Albert Coe took this statement to mean that they dwelt in the high mountains of Venus. Still today, few people in the public know that the upper atmosphere of Venus is very close to that of Earth.

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE ON DARK MATTER

There is this statement concerning the matter of the universe by "Mister X":

"Electronic survey of cosmic dimension, discloses a magnitude of thousands of millions of ‘light years,’ composing a chaotic cauldron of uncontrolled energy, in unceasing, restless motion and all the galaxies, gradating to the suns and planets, with their complement of inorganic and organic bodies, comprise less than one percent of this energy mass." (p. 83)

Ordinary matter that science knows about, both inorganic and organic, is known as baryonic matter. The above statement is stating that the entire universe is composed of less than 1% of baryonic matter. Current scientific estimates are that 4.9% of the entire universe is baryonic matter; the rest is "dark matter" or "dark energy," as follows:

So when did science make this estimate, that the entire universe is composed of only 4.9% baryonic matter? It was not until 1980 that astronomers determined that galaxies contain more dark matter than ordinary matter. Anyone can check this. It was not known in 1967, much less in 1920. And even though this was determined in 1980, at the time no one knew how to interpret the data - scientists assumed that there must be some other body of ordinary baryonic matter that we were not seeing. This is still an active area of research in cosmology and particle physics. So it remain to be seen if the current estimate of 4.9% should be less than 1%.

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE ON EVOLUTION

There is much information given on the evolutionary history of the earth, with timelines. I took note of this one:

"By far, the older of these living fossils, is the curious little character that is often tossed up on the beach, as he grubs the bottom, under tide waters for worms. etc., and commonly called the Horseshoe Crab. Actually he is not a crab but a venerable ancestor of the branching Spider clan and reached his peak of evolvement, as he is today, more than two galactic revolutions ago." (p. 89)

At the time "Mister X" estimated that one galactic revolution is about 223 million years, and current estimates are between 225-250 million years. The Horseshoe crab is a marine arthropod which according to modern estimates reached its form 450 million years ago:

The Horseshoe Crab, as said above, is now recognized as the ancient ancestor of the modern terrestrial spider. But was this known when the book was published? Horseshoe crabs belong to the modern subphylum of Chelicerata. So when was Chelicerata first recognized as the ancestor of the spider? I checked a journal called Arthropod Relationships, issue 55, which contains the article "The early history and phylogeny of the chelicerates" by J.A. Dunlop and P.A. Selden. It goes into the history of the scientific classification in much detail beginning from the year 1881. Finally found this statement:

"Kraus (1976) argued that Merostomata represented an aquatic grade of chelicerate, rather than a discrete taxon and Bergstrom (1979) further suggested that Arachnida [spiders] could simply represent terrestrial chelicerates." (p. 222)

Thus it was not until 1979 that it was first suggested by scientists that the Horseshoe Crab is the ancestor of the terrestrial spider. However in the 1990s further papers were introduced that cast doubt on this, with research stating that they are one monophyletic group (which is the scientific way of saying, "we do not know which came first"). Research on this is ongoing, and I had to pull out another book Fossil Arachnids, where I found this from research as recent as 2011:

"Traditionally, horseshoe crabs and eurypterids were placed together as the Merostomata... There is now increasing evidence eurypterids are closer to arachnids. ...chasmastaspids muddy the waters by preserving characteristics common with both horseshoe crabs and eurypterids." (p. 18)

There is then discussion of a theory from 2006 that arachnids evolved their lungs once, thus terrestrial spiders share a common ancestor, but the research does not reach a conclusion. Research on this is ongoing based upon molecular phylogenetics (e.g., Regier, 2010), but it is hard to recover as some main lines of the arachnids became extinct long ago. However if one looks at the fossil record, whereas Horseshoe crabs appear 450 million years ago, spiders appear later at 430 million years ago.

A THEORY OF THE UNIVERSAL NUCLEUS

One thing that prevails in the discourse of "Mister X" is discussion of the relationship between the position of a solar system in its rotation around its galaxy and the "Universal Nucleus." At first I thought he was referring to the black hole at the center of each galaxy. But no, he is referring to a "Universal Nucleus" at the center of the universe. Current theory is that there is no center of the universe due to uniform background cosmic radiation (see Where is the centre of the universe?, and History of the Center of the Universe). From where we are, everything looks the same everywhere we look, so the conclusion is that there is no center.

So this is completely unconfirmed by our modern science, and I can find no theory that even comes close to this. The "Universal Nucleus," whatever it is, warps magnetic line of force:

"...over long stretches of time, there are fluctuations in galactic spin and orbital velocity, as it often weaves a zig zag course due to pulsation of Nucleus energy flux that warps the magnetic line of force, in which it travels..." (p. 91)

The Universal Nucleus also exerts a force on all solar systems in a galaxy, depending on its position in its rotation around the galactic center, helping in the creation of mountains on a planet at certain times in their history (p. 92). So what is it? There is this later statement:

"To be more specific the Nucleus is a tremendous vehicle of motion, comprising pure energy and at absolute zero. A tremendous energy outpouring gives birth to the electron and proton, at its face and as they are bent into the magnetic lines of force, surrounding the Nucleus, their mating creates the Hydrogen Atoms, foundation blocks of all matter for through a fusion by synthesis, the primal suns are formulated, then suns and planets in the eventual grouping of galaxies. In this action of synthesis and the suns of the galaxies they form, will be found the only ‘Heat' in the Universe. The great ice ages occur in this closer proximity to the Nucleus, because a spiral arm is pulled out to its farthest extreme from the bulk of the galaxy and the average sun is not hot enough to completely offset this direct impact of its icy breath." (p. 115-116)

I read this that the Universal Nucleus is a source of motion, constantly creates matter, and the areas where the galaxy approaches the direction of the Universal Nucleus the systems experience more cold. This reminds me of one theory that is an utter mystery to modern science: Dark Energy. From wikipedia:

"Inphysical cosmologyandastronomy,dark energyis ahypotheticalform ofenergywhich permeates all of space and tends to acceleratetheexpansion of the universe.Dark energy is the most accepted hypothesis to explain the observations since the 1990s indicating that the universe isexpandingat anaccelerating rate. ...Two proposed forms for dark energy are thecosmological constant, aconstantenergy density filling space homogeneously,and scalar fieldssuch asquintessenceormoduli,dynamicquantities whose energy density can vary in time and space. Contributions from scalar fields that are constant in space are usually also included in the cosmological constant. The cosmological constant can be formulated to be equivalent tovacuum energy. Scalar fields that do change in space can be difficult to distinguish from a cosmological constant because the change may be extremely slow."

The universe is not just expanding, it it accelerating, and scientists don't know why and just call it "dark energy". This only came up in the 1990s, and is still a topic of research and debate. Perhaps it is possible that a "Universal Nucleus" at the center of the universe is responsible for this dark energy, pushing galaxies causing an acceleration? It makes sense. If so, dark energy is not uniform, but varies according to galactic motion.

Note that if this theory of the Universal Nucleus is related to the modern theory of Dark Energy, the Universal Nucleus is related to the cosmological constant, which is the value of the energy density in vacuum space. And indeed, "Mister X" does mention the cosmological constant in relation to Albert Einstein:

"...in his theory of a “Cosmological Constant” came upon the core of the riddle. We have long puzzled, as to reason, for abandoning this idea as his, ‘greatest mistake,’ when all mathematical and especially his now, world famous equation, point to this one and only conclusion." (p. 211)

Then later, mentions that the cosmological constant is related to the concept of the Universal Nucleus:

"He seemed unable to put his finger on the "Nucleus."" (p. 212)

And then there is this other description, which may indicate the the Universal Nucleus is causing the acceleration of the galaxies:

"...combining a spectrographic analysis of galactic conformity, with the partial outline of the ‘Nucleus’ on impulse graphs, when carried out in the symmetry of nature, defines a slightly flattened. egg shaped sphere, with the narrow end in the direction that the galaxies are moving." (p. 214)

This is similar to the "cosmic egg" that appears in so many ancient myths. Here is a quote from the Finnish Kalevela:

One egg's lower half transformed

And became the earth below,

And its upper half transmuted

And became the sky above;

From the yolk the sun was made,

Light of day to shine upon us;

From the white the moon was formed,

Light of night to gleam above us;

All the colored brighter bits

Rose to be the stars of heaven

And the darker crumbs changed into

Clouds and cloudlets in the sky.

So as of yet, this theory of the Universal Nucleus is unconfirmed, but seems to be similar to the modern concept of Dark Energy to explain the acceleration of the universe.

The account of Albert Coe with an extraterrestrial from Venus, who claimed they originated from Tau Ceti, has largely been forgotten. At the time there was no scientific knowledge to verify it, and even today some of the statements are in areas of current scientific research. I was quite surprised to find such independent evidence that indicates that this account may in fact be true. How else to explain the knowledge that was not known at the time?

OTHER ENCOUNTERS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS FROM TAU CETI

From the above findings, I decided to do a search on other reported encounters of extraterrestrials from Tau Ceti, and the account I uncovered is a bit disturbing. The report first appeared in the Spring 1991 UFO JOURNAL OF FACTS from researcher Frank Crawford. This story originated from a witness under the name of "Oscar" who said he was involved in a UFO crash retrieval while in the military, under the office of the Naval O.S.S. He was contacted from a lead provided by the nuclear physicist and Ufologist, Stanton Friedman. He said he was dispatched to a base in North Dakota, where the saucer was resting on heavy jack stands in a hangar. The following are excerpts of the account from Secrets of the Mojave:

"’The craft had crashed near Phoenix, Arizona and was moved to this North Dakota base. Two dead alien bodies with fatal radiation exposure were found outside the craft. I reflected on my O.S.S. Training for crash retrieval and remembered thinking. ’Why bother, we will never get a chance to be involved in anything that exciting.’ Well, not only was I involved, I was the security team leader. This meant that when the craft was opened I would be the first one inside! After all, one does not send in a high ranking officer or a chief scientist to possibly encounter an alien booby trap or extraterrestrial virus. Come to think of it, the prospects did not excite me either. As Professor Bear prepared his ultrasonic sound generators for opening the craft, my apprehension turned to intensity; after all, this was what my training was for.

"’As ’the Bear’ tuned his equipment the smooth solid metal surface of the craft began to ripple like when you throw a stone in the water. When the ripples seemed to gain harmonic stability the now liquid metal parted in a circular iris-like fashion. As I stepped inside I noticed a fresh pine scent and a strange smoothness to everything. The interior was rounded off and continued with no seams or rivets. It was as if the walls, floor and ceiling were formed out of one piece of metal. Even a table in the center of the craft looked as though it had been pushed up out of the floor. What appeared to be control panels had no knobs, switches or dials. There were strange symbols highlighting these futuristic yet simple consoles.

"’The outside of the craft had no apparent damage yet the interior showed some distortion, possibly from the crash. Next to one of the panels I could see something that would challenge my training and change my perceptions of reality forever. The craft was just another piece of hardware, but seated next to the panel was a human! It’s gender was obviously male. Aside from his unusual dress he could have walked past you at a grocery store and not command much attention. Upon noticing some injuries about his head I instinctively and quickly moved toward him to help. His skin was a bronze color, reminiscent of Mediterranean or South American cultures. His hair was similarly brown and very short in a Roman or crew style cut. The only real difference in appearance from earth humans were that his ears were slightly pointed...

"’He was conscious and in great pain. One leg was partially pinned by the shifting interior. I was examining cuts on his cheek and lip when I first touched him. An overwhelming feeling of compassion came over me as I heard his voice in my head. I could understand him clearly even though his mouth did not move. The communication was strictly telepathic..."

"’I perceived his fear of being harmed and told him that I would not let anyone hurt him. Suddenly, a voice from the doorway refocused my attention on the duties at hand.

"’I called back that we had a live one. The craft filled with gloved and masked medical personnel to help free the occupant. He was quickly carried outside and placed on a gurney. I remarked that he felt heavy for his size and a few others that had assisted agreed. As the alien was whisked off for medical attention, Professor Bear examined the inside of the craft. He found what he thought was a star map depicting the constellation Eridanus and wondered if that might be where the alien was from. After a brief discussion concerning the nature of the communications, Bear asked me to accompany him to the medical lab. As we talked along the way I referred to the alien being as ’Hank.’ The professor asked if that was the name the alien had given me.

"I explained that it was not and that I had chosen that nickname based on it’s native American reference to a ’troubled spirit.’ The professor smiled and said, ’Hank it is,’ and the name seemed to immediately stick. In the antiseptic, impersonal medical room Hank’s discomfort was compounded by his complete undressing. While still in great pain he was examined from head to toe. No stone was left unturned, so to speak. They treated him as if he were a baby of some rare animal species being first born into captivity. It became evident that Hank could not communicate with everyone involved so I was asked to be translator. I had no trouble understanding that the normal anesthetics we were administering had little or no effect. Suddenly, with Hank’s discomfort still a concern, everyone’s attention became divided between the being and a new person arriving on the scene.

"’This new person was obviously important yet seemed to make everyone uneasy. Even Hank recoiled in fear when he came close. He barked a few stern orders and several people, myself included, marched into a nearby conference room. The man introduced himself as Frank Drake and told us he was the head of the operation. The reports would hence forth be titled ’Project OSMA’ (with an ’S’)...’

The researcher Frank Crawford now comments on the account:

"As Oscar told the story that began this article it became obvious that, because of his military background, the name given was for his protection. The account unfolded further to reveal horrible injustices to Hank and to Oscar himself. At the direction of Drake the team conducted medical experiments such as spinal taps, marrow sampling, taking organ specimens and other exploratory surgery on Hank WITHOUT anesthesia. Oscar had spent many hours over three months communicating with and growing close to the alien. One day he stepped between Drake and Hank with his .45 cal. pistol drawn and demanded an end to the torture. Drake withdrew but the next morning Oscar had new orders to depart immediately for Saint Albans Hospital in Radford, Va., where he was incarcerated for debriefing. He remained isolated for several months until the efforts of Lt.(?) Charles Turner, Oscar’s Commanding Officer, got him to move to a psychiatric ward. His family, who had now been out of touch with him for almost three months, was told that Oscar had suffered a head injury during a submarine accident. After spending time under psychiatric care, which would damage his military record, he was oddly enough given an honorable discharge."

So where did this extraterrestrial originate? Frank Crawford commented further:

"The pattern from the panel inside the ship was confirmed by Rapp to match stars of the constellation Eridanus as seen FROM EARTH. It was later confirmed by Hank that the stars of origin of his people were Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. In later sessions Oscar discussed some reasons for the presence of the aliens. He said THEY DO NOT LIKE THE SITUATION WITH SOME OF THE SMALL GREY ALIENS. He corrected us when we used the term ’grey’ and said that they are actually white. The Tau Cetians feel that the abductions being carried out by some of the Greys ARE A GREAT INJUSTICE TO HUMANITY. ’THEY ARE A PARASITIC RACE THAT HAS AND IS PREYING ON HUMAN CIVILIZATIONS THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE,’Oscar relayed. He added that our government’s involvement with the grays IS VERY DANGEROUS AND OUT OF CONTROL... Oscar is ADAMANT that the bug people are using HUMAN FLUIDS FOR SUSTENANCE. They feed by immersing their arms in vats and/or rubbing the fluids on their bodies. HE CLAIMS THAT THEY ARE ALSO KIDNAPPING CHILDREN..."

Some comments of mine on this account. I had previously discussed some of the testimony of Sergeant Clifford Stone, another military witness who stated that he was involved in UFO crash retrievals, and communicating telepathically to any live occupants. He appeared on the censored Disney documentary on extraterrestrials. The report of a medical experiments on this extraterrestrial without anaesthesia is corroborated somewhat in the blog post The Extraterrestrial Science of Dr. Michael Wolf:

"Dr. Michael Wolf apparently saw autopsy tapes where the alien was strapped to the table, implying that it may have still been alive. This was abhorrent to him, thus the project was initiated to return them home."

As for the report of the small grey aliens, that is corroborated by hundreds of witnesses who have been reporting their abductions to other researchers. In the transmissions as reported in Extraterrestrial Contact with Koldas, they again warned about a hostile race that had been abducting humans. For another account concerning the star system Epsilon Eridani, see Extraterrestrial Contact from Epsilon Eridani and Emanuel Swedenborg. However the big surprise here is the account that the person in charge of the crash retrieval operation was Frank Drake, an astronomer who pioneered project OZMA in 1960, the predecessor to project SETI to search for extraterrestrial life. As it turns out, in 1960 he had decided to focus the attention of the project to two systems: Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. If one looks at the background of Frank Drake, he received his training on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. Allegedly the U.S. Navy was in charge of this UFO crash retrieval operation. He is the author of the famed Drake Equation.

MYTHS OF ELVES AND LORD OF THE RINGS

So we have here extraterrestrials from Tau Ceti, who long ago settled Venus and Mars and try to remain anonymous. This obviously raises more questions than answers here, and I have not been able to cover the full account of Albert Coe's encounter beginning in 1920. So there are human like extraterrestrials, some with pointed ears, who originate from an ice planet orbiting Tau Ceti. I have only concentrated on what we can discover from verifiable facts, as the story is so unbelievable - it is as if I am telling people, Yes, elves really do exist. Yes, Santa Claus is real. Many children are taught to believe in Santa Claus and it is quite traumatic for them when they are told he is not real. Adults would probably react in the same way if confronted with a real-life elf, whom they thought were only a part of imaginary fairy stories.

The myths of elves originate from old Germanic and Scandinavian countries, areas which have a colder climate. According to Albert Coe, Mister X looked like someone his age, but he told him in fact he was 304 years older than him. He warned Albert of many dangers that men on earth would face in the future if they should not change their course of action. This reminds me of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, where the race of elves dwell in forests hidden from men, avoiding contact, and live to an extreme long age. Even the elf-queen Galadriel communicated telepathically, and warned Frodo of future things to come:

Towards the end Galadriel reveals that she is also a ring bearer. She says, "This is Nenya, the ring of Adamant, and I am its keeper." Adamant means diamond, and the ring was also known as the Ring of Water. This reminds me of a description that Mister X gave to Albert Coe concerning the solar system of Tau Ceti:

"The disc straight ahead, near the top of the frame, that looks in size like a shiny half dollar, is the seventh or outer planet Ahreeca whose orbital Aphelion is eight hundred twenty-nine million miles and the mean distance of the other six planets graduating down to thirty-seven million miles for Ne-Neeea, the smaller and closest planet to the sun." (p. 155)

Although we call the star "Tau Ceti," it has a more ancient name:

"It has the proper name Durre Menthor, which comes from the Arabic Al Durr' Al-Manthūur (الدرر المنثور), meaning The Scattered Pearls (of the Broken Necklace)."

Strangely, this reminds me of a precognitive dream I had long ago in which this phrase was given: the Eye of Mentar. After I had that dream I searched high and low for the name meaning of "Mentar" but just could not find it. I covered this dream a while ago in the blog post The Hidden Secret of the Lord of the Rings, in which I traced the name to another word that appears in Lord of the Rings, Meneldor (see also the label "Lord of the Rings" in this blog).This is similar to the name Durre Menthor of Tau Ceti. Certainly, quite a strange coincidence.

Here is a music clip from the movie Oblivion, which has a scene of a man staring at a white cliff of his dead planet: